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Astros put Travis Buck on DL, call up Fernando Martinez, who will start in right field tonight.
— Zachary Levine (@zacharylevine) June 2, 2012
According to Brian McTaggart it's an Achilles' injury for Buck. With Carlos Lee unavailable, because of a strained hamstring the Astros made a move and put Buck on the DL and called up Fernando Martinez:
It's an Achilles' injury for Buck. Not major, but with Lee not available a move had to be made
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) June 2, 2012
Martinez has been a player the fans have wanted to see for a while tonight. He got off to a good start at Oklahoma City for the Redhawks. In 202 plate appearances Martinez is batting .326/.381/.543 with a .393 wOBA, a .380 BABIP and has sent eight balls out of the park via the homerun.
One of the biggest concerns regarding Martinez has been his splits against handed pitchers which favors facing righties over lefties. He also walks at a below average rate. Then there's the fact that he's struggled in every opportunity at the Major League level, although that's in only 145 plate appearances. Still he's only 23 and has loads of potential.
Should he fulfill that potential he has a chance to stick with the club, however, the likely scenario is that he's only up for the duration of Buck's DL stint. Unless, he cashes in on his potential he's the only one with options left, besides J.D. Martinez, and I can't see the Astros letting Martinez stay up if he doesn't reach that potential while throwing aside either Buck or Bogusevic.
Regardless it'll be interesting to see what Martinez can do at the big league level. Well those of you that live the Houston area will be able to see. The rest of us not in the Houston area will be blacked out this fine evening, thanks to Fox and MLB's ridiculous blackout rules.